Badlaav

Every evening in every Gurdwara worldwide, the Guru Granth Sahib is respectfully moved in a ceremony called Shabad Chowki. The tradition dates back centuries to Baba Buddha Ji, who led Sikhs singing Shabad to every corner of Gwalior Fort while Guru Hargobind Sahib was imprisoned there. It's a practice so deeply woven into Sikh life that most people never stop to consider how far it's traveled. This film does. At Kartarpur Sahib, the Muslim community helps with caretaking. In Thailand, a Thai child whose mother served in the Gurdwara kitchen learned to call out the Punjabi Jaikara with perfect pronunciation.

Badlaav, meaning "change" in Punjabi, explores how participation in community sacred practices creates belonging that transcends language, nationality, and background. Whether it's serving langar, doing jode sewa, or carrying the Guru Granth Sahib, these acts of humility reshape the people who do them. Children are carrying forward traditions across cultures they weren't born into, and the result is a living, breathing kind of change that no one planned but everyone can feel. This Sikhlens documentary captures a faith tradition quietly becoming something bigger than itself.